Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics

General introduction, history and scope of plant tissue culture, comparision of different plant tissue culture media, concept of totipotency, organogenesis, somatic embryogenesis (direct & indirect), callus culture and suspension culture, somaclonal variation, hardening and acclimatization of plants. Protoplast culture: Isolation and culture of protoplast, somatic hybridization, hybrid selection and regeneration, concept of hybrid and cybrid, achievements and limitations of protoplast culture.

Concept and history of transgenesis in plants, principles and techniques of gene cloning: direct DNA transfer to plant cells, Agrobacterium mediated transformation: Ti plasmid, process of T- DNA transfer and integration, vectors, promoter, terminator, marker and reporter genes, ethical and ecological issues of transgenesis, terminator technology (GURT)

Introduction of IPR, Forms of IPRs, Distinction among various IPRs; Introduction of Paris convention, WIPO, WTO and TRIPS, Indian IP system; Salient features of Patent Act, patentability requirement, prior-art search, Documents  requirement for filing an application for patent, patent publication, technology transfer, Infringements and remedies; Budapest treaty; Protection of plant variety and farmers rights Act, Convention of Biological Diversity, bio-patents, traditional knowledge, case studies – haldi, neem, basmati, GM crops and IPRs, Geographical indicators.

                                                                                                                         Molecular tools and their applications: Restriction enzymes, c DNA and genomic library, DNA sequencing, polymerase chain reaction, DNA fingerprinting.                                                                                      

Gene bank sequence database, structure database, sequence analysis, information retrieval from biological database, NCBI data model, sequence alignment and database searching and practical aspects of multiple sequence alignment.